Green Tea is For Headaches
by Jaiaelle
Summary: Britta drinks green tea when she has headaches but not when she doesn't.  Britta/Troy, side Jeff/Annie.


_Author's Note: This is my attempt at this pairing...just because I wanted to. I wrote it in fairly short amount of time and thought that writing Troy was sort of difficult. However, I'm really liking this pairing so I thought I'd try it...though I'm not necessarily happy with the outcome. Feedback?_

**_Green Tea is For Headaches_**

It had taken all of two seconds for Britta to fall into Troy and Abed's trap. Although to call it a trap was a bit of stretch. Really, it had only been Abed asking and Troy turning his gaze upon her that had caused her to capitulate. She didn't know why but the two of them (or maybe it was just one and had been that one more and more lately) had an effect on her. Also, the idea they had proposed did seem somewhat interesting. Especially considering her role in it. But did she really want to inspect why it was so interesting to her?

"Britta, is it true?" Shirley asked, later that afternoon, as Britta sipped some green tea while sitting in the cafeteria (she didn't care so much about it's anti-oxidant benefits but rather preferred it to coffee…plus, it was the best way to rid oneself of headaches. Not that Britta had one at the moment…but one was kind of forming). "Are you really going to be playing Troy's love interest in his and Abed's latest…endeavor?"

"Yeah, so?" asked Britta, taking her last drink of the tea. "What's the big deal?"

"Oh, well…I don't know." Shirley examined the table top for several minutes, clearly trying to think of something to say. "You have been spending a lot of time with Troy lately. And Abed," she added, almost as an afterthought.

"Yeah, the two of them are kind of a package deal." Twisting her hands around her cup, Britta realized what she had implied with her words. Or had she really implied anything at all? "What I mean is," she attempted to clarify. "I hang out with both of them." Frowning, she sputtered for a minute, trying to elaborate further, and blurted out, "Jeff and I used to hang out a lot but him and Annie have been…" Trailing off, Britta shrugged, knowing that Shirley understood. Jeff was always with Annie and Annie was always with Jeff these days. Clearly, a something was developing between them and they were both interested in exploring it by devoting as much time to being together as possible. Shirley had seemed rather disappointed because, in her estimation, Jeff belonged with Britta and Annie with Troy but, after observing the interactions of the two, and pretending their age difference didn't bother her, she thought maybe they'd be…sort of nice together. Britta, on the other hand, had kind of missed Jeff, in a strictly platonic-he's-totally-my-best-friend way and, because of that, found herself a sort of tag along on many of Abed and Troy's misadventures. It wasn't like she had anyone else to do things with.

Though, sometimes, for whatever reason, it was just Troy and Britta, Abed off doing God knows what. At first it had been awkward between the two of them, and then it had been comfortable and now it was…Britta wasn't sure what. A mixture between the two.

"Britta, I'm your friend and that's the only reason I ask but…is it possible that you have…feelings for Troy?"

The question took Britta off guard and she quickly shook her head. "No, of course not. What would give you that idea?" Twisting her head, Britta glanced at the clock then smiled. "Well, would you look at the time. I'm going to be late." Gathering her stuff, Britta hurried out of the cafeteria, barely registering Shirley's, "Bye, Brit-ta."

She hadn't gotten far when a hand grabbed a hold of her upper arm, causing her to come to a complete stop. "Jeff," she cried, without even looking at him. "I'm late."

"C'mon, Britta," he said. "You know that I know that you're not late. What could you possibly be late for?"

Yanking her arm from his grasp, she glared up at him, not quite sure why she had lied to him in the first place or why she was now glaring. "I'm not late for hanging out with Annie, since we both know you have a monopoly on her time."

Raising both eyebrows, Jeff pursed his lips, contemplating her words. "That's what this is about? You're jealous of me spending time with Annie?"

Only Jeff would've been able to draw that conclusion from what she had said. "I'm not jealous. I just feel slightly…on the defensive at the moment."

Tilting his head, Jeff thought some more. "Hmm…so you miss your BFF, which is me, and have been using Troy and Abed as substitutes but something's going on there that confuses you. Does this being on the defensive have anything to do with you starring as Troy's love interest in Abed's upcoming film? And why do I feel like I'm evaluating the characters of some CW show?"

Mouth dropping open, Britta found herself sputtering for the second time that day. She hated how easy it was for Jeff to read her, though Jeff had the uncanny ability to easily read everyone. "How do you do that? Not that I'm admitting you were right…"

Smirking, he leaned against the wall that was next to them. "I am right. And it's easy because it's me. The only person who isn't so easy to get is…Annie." A soft smile played across his lips and Britta could tell he was thinking about their young, doe eyed classmate. "Uh, anyway…huh? Oh, right. You and I should do something because I might miss you too." He nudged her with his shoulder and winked. "As for the other issue, I say, go for it. And, actually, it makes sense. His innocence and eagerness to believe…anything counteracts your cynicism and jaded belief system. It's kind of a balance."

Holding her head high, Britta told herself that Jeff was full of it. "Whatever, Jeff. I have a headache." Thinking she needed more green tea stat, Britta headed away, calling out a goodbye over her shoulder.

Shrugging, Jeff just watched her leave, a possible grin on his face.

Two hours and six cups of green tea later, Britta was outside of Abed's dorm room. Hesitatingly, she knocked on the door, one, two, three times. Literally five seconds after, Abed flung open the door.

"Hey, Britta. Right on time. Come in."

Taking a breath, Britta did what he said, entering his meticulously clean room. It wasn't always so organized. She figured he had tidied up for the movie. "Where's Tr-" She halted in mid sentence when she saw him, laying on the bed, obviously sleeping.

"He's still taking his post lunch nap. It's on the long side today. I think he ate too much macaroni and cheese. I told him he should slow down. Anyway, we'll wake him and you two can start the love scene."

Frozen in place, Britta tried to say something but found she couldn't. Love scene…already? Clearing her throat, she made herself talk. "Love scene, Abed? Before we've shot the others? And I haven't even gotten my lines for the part yet."

"You won't need them," Abed explained. "Actually, in this scene the usually bitter female lead is staring lovingly down at the somewhat naïve male lead, who is asleep. It begins to dawn on her that she has been starting to have feelings for him over the past few weeks. She wakes him and they gaze into each other's eyes and then they kiss. Maybe we can practice the first part of that now. Go wake Troy." Gesturing toward the bed, he took his place across the room, grabbing his camera. "And filmmakers always shoot scenes out of order. Now, go...action."

Making a face, Britta walked to the bed and looked down at Troy. He looked so peaceful and sweet and adorable she couldn't help but smile. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she continued her perusal of his features, feeling herself soften even more. Jeff's words about the two of them echoed inside her head and she shook herself slightly before recalling Abed's direction. Stretching a hand out, she grazed her fingers gently along his cheek. He stirred but didn't wake. Scooting closer to him, she moved her hand onto his shoulder, placing it there but not making another effort to further wake him. Part of her didn't want to; part of her would've been content to watch him sleep for awhile.

Biting her top lip, she thought about the last several weeks and how much she had been enjoying spending time with him. He made her laugh, sometimes on purpose, sometimes not. When she was stressed, his presence alone soothed her. When her cat had gotten run over by a car, he had held her while she cried, not saying anything. So maybe she liked him. A little.

Without intending to, she gripped his shoulder a little tighter and his eyes slowly opened. "Britta…?" Grinning, he sat up too fast, hitting his head against the top bunk. "Ow!"

Gasping, Britta touched her fingers to where he had hit. "Are you okay?"

"Uh…yeah, I think so." Grimacing, he rubbed the spot before smiling at her again. "I was just dreaming about you…and there was this field full of bunnies and these golden flowers. You're kind of like those golden flowers, Britta. They had thorns but they were beautiful."

Melting a little, Britta leaned forward, completely forgetting about the movie. "That's…sweet, Troy."

Furrowing his brow, Troy stared into her eyes for several long seconds before putting a hand on the side of her face. "I think you're sweet, Britta. You're not like a big cookie or a donut because those things are not sweet enough."

She could've taken it as a line, which it kind of was, but coming from Troy she also knew it was genuine. "Thanks, Troy." Inhaling, she started thinking and over thinking until she shut it all off. Not this time. This time, she would let her heart guide her actions. Swallowing, she inched her face closer and, taking this as his cue, Troy closed the gap and touched his lips to hers. Immediately she felt it, whatever it was. Some indescribable emotion, some intense electricity that passed between the two of them. They became so immersed in each other that they didn't hear Abed whisper, "End scene," then leave the room.

Once outside, he was confronted by Annie, who was practically bouncing on her toes, and Jeff, who was somewhat stoic in his attempt to stop himself from grinning at her enthusiasm. "Did it work?" she asked, too loudly.

"Honey, keep it down," Jeff told her, the teasing in his tone heard.

Not batting an eye, Annie slipped her arm through his. "That's asking a lot of me, honey," she replied, stressing the nickname.

"I'm aware," he quipped.

Hitting him lightly on the arm, Annie looked expectantly at Abed. "Well?"

Grinning mischievously, Abed nodded.

Squealing, Annie jumped up and down, while Jeff steadied himself a bit, as her reaction threw him a bit off kilter. "That's great!"

"I'm sure us standing outside the room talking about this, while they're in there doing...whatever...isn't weird at all…" Jeff muttered. "Why don't we go get some pizza? I'll buy.

Both Abed and Annie agreed, Annie insisting they also invite Shirley and Pierce, and the three headed down the hall, talking and laughing…mostly about Troy and Britta.

The next day, Britta was sitting in the cafeteria, same spot and same time as the day previously, when Shirley approached her.

"Britta," she said simply, sliding into the booth seat across from Britta.

"Shirley."

Carefully avoiding the topic that she so desperately wanted to bring up, Shirley pointed out at the cup on the table. "Drinking some green tea?"

"Nope." Smiling, Britta relaxed on the bench. "Green tea is for those days when I have a headache or feel a headache coming on. And today is not a day like that." Spotting Troy across the cafeteria, getting a huge plateful of macaroni and cheese, with pepper jack, her smile grew. "Nope. No headache at all."


End file.
